Hampshire Down sheep have been a distinctive part of the South Killanoola livestock scene for the past 60 years.
Mr Conway C. Seymour registered the stud in 1960, Stud number 14. Initiated with the purchase of 1 ram and 20 ewes from Sir Robert Cotton at Carrington Park, Oberon NSW.
The stud was initially managed by Rosemary Vincent (Conway’s daughter). The sheep were shown at Adelaide and local shows with reasonable success.
New Zealand was initially the main client, with a lucrative trading of ewes which kept flock numbers fairly static. Many of the present NZ flocks have a South Killanoola bloodline. In 1974 with the lifting of import restrictions into Australia, Robert Seymour flew to Christchurch NZ and purchased 2 rams and 85 ewes from the leading South Island studs. At the time this was the largest consignment of stud sheep to enter Australia since the import ban was imposed in the 1950’s. Another 28 ewes were sourced from the New Zealand Mitchfield stud dispersal in 1979. The SK stud entered the 1980’s breeding from 300 registered ewes.
